Local meat consumption represents half the net carbon emissions of imported meat consumption

The Department of Environment, Biosphere Reserve and Cooperation of the Consell Insular has published the “Study on the carbon footprint of the livestock sector in Menorca”, an extensive evaluation of the emissions of the different types of livestock farming on the island commissioned with the objective to have detailed information for the application of public policies to promote the primary sector and mitigate climate change.

The study was presented at a press conference by the Minister of the Environment, Biosphere Reserve and Cooperation, Simón Gornés, accompanied by the Minister of Economy and General Services, Maria Antònia Taltavull Fernández, and by one of the authors of the study, the forestry engineer José Joaquín García García-Roldan.

The document estimates the carbon footprint of the entire meat production cycle on the island with data from 2021 and 2022: emissions from the livestock itself, those linked to the agriculture necessary to obtain forage, the management of manure and the use of fertilizers, or the footprint related to the use of machinery, electrical consumption, transportation or slaughter of the animal. Taking into account the characteristics of the sector on the island and providing, for each part of the cycle, disaggregated data to be able to address specific measures.

The livestock sector, key in Menorca

The study shows that the livestock sector not only has a strategic importance in the configuration of the territory of the Menorca Biosphere Reserve and its associated biodiversity, but it is also strategically important in mitigating and adapting to climate change. The characteristics of Menorca’s livestock farms, with an agroforestry mosaic, become a great opportunity to minimize and even offset the sector’s emissions.

Reducing these emissions therefore involves integrating sustainable forest management on farms, as well as improving fertilization and manure management.

“The contribution of livestock farming and meat consumption to greenhouse gas emissions has been an issue that has recently emerged strongly in the public sphere. This issue has influenced public policies to promote extensive agriculture at the European level, and has also had an impact on public opinion with various general campaigns with the aim, for example, of minimizing meat consumption. Now, with this study, we have rigorous information on the important role that Menorca’s livestock sector plays both in the sustainability of the island and in mitigating climate change, and we have provided ourselves with a key tool for promoting the primary sector, to the promotion of local meat and to clearly communicate to the population what their role is as a consumer,” declared the Minister of the Environment, Biosphere Reserve and Cooperation, Simón Gornés.

The study data also confirms the good direction of some of the public decisions taken in relation to the livestock sector, such as the training and advice to the sector that is carried out at the Sa Granja training center, the promotion campaigns of local product with initiatives such as Agroxerxa and the Menorca Biosphere Reserve brand or the Biosphere Reserve Agrarian Contract (CARB) program, which recognizes the sustainable practices of agricultural and livestock farms for their contribution to the recovery and maintenance of biodiversity and the traditional Menorcan rural landscape, of high environmental and cultural value.